The Last Academy Read Online Free PDF Page A

and NORA ALPERT , and that door was closed. I heard voices inside, so I knocked and opened the door right away. I wasn’t into waiting to see if they wanted to talk to me.
    Jessie sat on her bed, her face all blotchy from crying. Nora sat next to her. Right away, I wanted to press some cosmic rewind button and get sucked backward over the threshold, pulling the door closed behind me as I went. Nora gave me a look that said: I will kill you if you leave after seeing Jessie this way . Still, it took a moment to decide if I was more chicken of Jessie’s crying or of Nora’s retribution. I stayed. Nobody said anything.
    “So … homesick?” I asked into the awkward silence. It seemed like a fair guess. Jessie rolled her eyes and blew her nose. Nora shook her head no. I sat down next to them. “Please don’t tell me you’re crying over the guy from the chapel.” It was the only thing I could think to say. I couldn’t imagine how she’d have guy drama already, but maybe the boy was someone she knew from back home. Then I flashedonto Mark Elliott and realized that a crush of devastating proportions could happen pretty quickly.
    Jessie started laughing. Or crying. Or something
    You know — little giggly sobs and nose sniffles that turned into brays and barks. Like someone rolling the radio knob back and forth between stations.
    Nora and I glanced at each other, worried. I couldn’t tell if Jessie was losing it or getting better. I didn’t think Jessie knew, either.
    “Over Skinny Butt?” I asked. I didn’t even know who I was talking about. And suddenly, we were all laughing.
    “Jessie doesn’t even know his name!” Nora cackled. Someone farted. Jessie turned purple. All fingers zeroed in on her. Tears streamed down her face. Nora fell off the bed with a thump. I howled.
    “Skin. Nee. Butt!” Nora wheezed.
    “What is his name?” Jessie shrieked.
    “There’s a school roster by the dining hall, you freaks.” Brynn stood in the doorway, eating popcorn. Like we were a show. A boring show. She turned to walk out.
    “What?” I called after her.
    “With the photos you sent in on your applications! Don’t you ever look at anything?” she yelled over her shoulder.
    “I d-d-d-don’t think …” Jessie stuttered. I grabbed her arm and pulled her off the bed. She came easily, like she was the kind of girl who was used to following someone.
    Brynn was back in the doorway. She had a new top on and her honey-blond hair freshly brushed. “I’m going with you,” she announced. “This place is a total estrogen fest. At least at the dining hall, there’s a chance of running into some guys.”
     
    Brynn was right. When we got to the dining hall, there was a poster board of all students and teachers tacked up in the front hallway. I found mine in the city of faces, the words CAMDEN FISHER, FRESHMAN, MINNESOTA , written underneath. My whole existence, boiled down to four words.
    Jessie scowled at the wall. Brynn pointed out her own photo, and asked Nora where hers was. Nora had a goofy picture, with her eyes crossed and tongue sticking out. “They let you in knowing you l-l-looked like th-that?” Jessie asked.
    “What? Beautiful?” Nora asked back, her puffball of dishwater-brown hair yanked back in a ponytail, neon running shorts showing off her leapfrog legs. It was weird, butNora’s easy confidence did make her kind of beautiful. I liked her already.
    Brynn tapped a manicured fingernail on another head shot. “Here’s my sucky roommate, who decided she didn’t want to come to school after all,” she said.
    My eyes fell on the photograph Brynn pointed to, and my head filled with tingling déjà vu weirdness. There was something about the girl in the picture. Her smile. She had a gap between her front teeth, probably like someone famous and I had simply forgotten who. The words under her photo read DREA SHAPIRO, FRESHMAN, NEW HAMPSHIRE .”
    A door swung open behind us, and the echo of male laughter came